Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, if there is no other Senator seeking to debate the matter, I suggest we yield back all remaining time, and I ask for the vote.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I want to commend Senators Specter and Harkin for the commitment they have made to educational funding levels that are represented in this bill. They certainly have demonstrated, I think, the extraordinary need for investment in education in ways that we have not seen in recent years. I am very grateful for their leadership and their responsiveness to many of these issues. The overall funding level for education is now well over the level requested by the President. There still is some unfinished business that needs to be addressed, and this amendment addresses two very significant concerns. I am introducing, with Senator Kennedy, this sense-of-the-Senate amendment to draw attention to two places where, in our view, more action is needed to fulfill the budget agreement agreed to earlier this year. This amendment will call on Congress in the form of a sense-of-the- Senate resolution to authorize and increase Pell grant funding to support both independent and dependent students and, second, to fund a child literacy initiative at $260 million for this fiscal year. I don't think there is much disagreement that Pell grants are an indispensable source of college aid for low- and middle-income students, but the current eligibility rule shortchanges too many students today. The current needs analysis system expects independent students, those whose eligibility is not linked to their parents' income, with incomes of $10,000 or higher to make such a large contribution that they receive little or virtually no help at all from the Pell Grant Program today. Furthermore, many of these students will not be helped by the tax credits enacted earlier this year. So the rules need to be changed so that students with low incomes can get help if they need it, students that don't have families, students that are working, students that have a marginal level of income that put them right in the middle between those eligibility criteria that would favorably affect them at the low end and those eligibility criteria having to do with tax credits at the high end. Similarly, the current rules governing the Pell Grant Program are discouraging dependent students, those whose parents' income are considered in determining eligibility, from getting part-time work. Students who have low incomes and who try to help out with their college expenses should still be eligible for some level of assistance. The President has proposed that we modify the rules to ensure that more of the students in these circumstances have the opportunity to qualify for Pell grants. As many as 250,000 students will be helped if the President's proposal is enacted as he proposed it. These are young people who are just getting started in life who want an education, but now their Government is denying them assistance. That simply isn't right, and we should resolve to fix it. So I hope this amendment will send a message to the authorizing committee and the conferees to this bill that we think this provision is important and worth reconsideration. I hope that we will closely consider the issues facing these students and act on it in this bill, and in a more substantive way in other legislation as it presents itself to the Senate. The second part of the amendment addresses a vital issue for the country, and that is literacy. We have an undeniable problem in this country. Forty percent of the Nation's fourth-grade children cannot read today at the basic level. Low achievement in reading is a national crisis, and it demands immediate attention. Children are at higher risk of falling behind in school and eventually dropping out because of it. It is important not only to these children, but for the future of this country that we address this problem head on. We can't afford to leave any child behind as we head into the next century. That is why we have to provide the full amount, the $260 million agreed to in the budget, and live up to our commitment if, to address this critical issue of child literacy. We must show that we are willing to respond to what we have said is our commitment this year. We are falling short in that regard and this is our only opportunity to revisit the question and really ask ourselves if, indeed, we are facing up to this challenge, to this crisis, if, indeed, we want to see literacy to be a higher priority as we consider education. What will we do to address it budgetarily? We can only hope that we live up to the budget agreement we passed just a month ago. So I hope that, on an overwhelming basis, we can support this amendment and send the message both on literacy, as well as on assisting those independent college students that we are going to live up to our words and our expectations with regard to the budget and the commitment we have made to them to give them the kind of education they deserve and need in society today. I am asking for a rollcall vote simply because I think it is imperative that we be forceful and as certain about this issue and demonstrate the broad bipartisan commitment about these issues that I believe exists within the Chamber tonight. So, Madam President, with that, I reserve the remainder of my time and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. DASCHLE. I have an amendment at the desk. I ask for its consideration.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, today I am introducing with my colleague from Illinois, Senator Moseley-Braun, a bill to help local communities expand schools that are overcrowded, and repair or replace schools that are crumbling, or obsolete. As you know, the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill that we are currently considering on the floor includes $100 million for school construction and repair. This is an important step toward addressing what is a real and growing problem in this country. The bill we are introducing today, the Educational Facilities Improvement Act, provides an additional $1.9 billion over the next 5 years. It represents the second installment in our efforts to upgrade the school buildings America's children attend. Communities can use the money to underwrite a part of the interest costs on school construction projects. In so doing, they will be using these dollars to leverage additional resources from other sources. This is an urgent priority. All over the country, children are returning to schools this month that are crowded or obsolete --even dangerous. Children are being taught in trailers. Some school yards have so many trailers outside that you can't tell if it's a playground or a trailer court. We need to address this problem now, not next year, not sometime in the future. This is why we are using rule 14 to skip the normal committee process and bring our bill directly on the Senate calendar. We hope our Republican colleagues will join the call for an early vote on this critical issue. We don't need committee hearings to know what the problem is. The GAO, the non-partisan Government Accounting Office, has already documented the problem. They say it will take $112 billion to bring all of America's schools up to par. We obviously can't commit that many federal dollars. And we shouldn't. Public education has always been--and should remain--first and foremost a local responsibility. But the sheer size of the problem requires that the Federal Government be a partner. We can't put America's educational house in order while our schools themselves are falling down. Students can't learn in classrooms that are crowded and buildings that are crumbling. And most local communities can't afford to foot the whole school construction bill themselves. Our bill will help communities begin to fix the most urgent of the problems. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. I ask unanimous consent that the bill and summary be included in the Record.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me also thank the majority leader for his cooperation in coming to an agreement, and I thank Senator Durbin who waited patiently to present this issue and debated it eloquently and forcefully over the last several days. We wanted a way to bring to closure the issue with regard to the deductibility question. And we will now have that opportunity for a final vote within the hour. So I think we have made great progress in the last 30 minutes. I am pleased now that we are at a point where we can have a final vote. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I would be happy to agree to a 20-minute time agreement, 20 minutes equally divided, if it is a contested amendment.

Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, I would assume there would be no second-degrees--with that timeframe assuming that there are no second-degree amendments.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I might be able to enlighten my colleague, the manager of the bill. We are told by a number of our colleagues that they are not prepared to enter into a time agreement on the amendment of the distinguished Senator from Alabama at this time. So I think it will probably be some time before we are able to do that. We may want to proceed. But at least at this point I do not think we are in a position to agree to a timeframe on the amendment.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield.

Mr. DASCHLE. This has been a matter of some discussion with the majority leader, and I think it would be prudent for us to allow the negotiations to continue without pressing for any kind of conclusive agreement tonight. I think we are making progress, but I do not think we are going to be in any position to come to any final conclusion on the amendment until we have had some additional discussions with the Senator from Oklahoma and others. So my preference would be to allow these negotiations to continue as we work on other amendments and revisit the question tomorrow afternoon, or tomorrow morning.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. If the Senator will yield, Mr. President, I say, if we could have the understanding that as soon as it is cleared on his side that he would seek recognition for purposes of propounding that aspect of the unanimous-consent request, I would not have any objection to the UC request that he currently has proposed.

Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, I think the suggestion made by the distinguished Senator is a good one. I intend to support it. I ask, if we can add to that, a unanimous consent request that Senator Durbin be recognized to offer his amendment, leaving open the option of people offering second-degrees following the two votes that you suggest.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues in offering this resolution to establish a National Day of Recognition for the humanitarian works of Mother Teresa. This past Friday the world suffered a great loss with the death of Mother Teresa, a woman called not only to minister to those in the shadows of life, but to be among them and shed on them the light of love and human decency. Someone once asked St. Francis what a person needed to do to please God. He answered, ``Preach the Gospel every day. If necessary--use words.'' Mother Teresa lived just that sort of life. She was a living lesson to all of us that faith is more than words. It is the good deeds we do in this world. For that lesson, we owe Mother Teresa not only a tremendous debt of gratitude, but the resolve to carry on her difficult but extremely important work. Mother Teresa's life certainly was one of action and deeds. She was a tireless builder. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. An order that began with 12 members now has grown to a worldwide community of 4,000 nuns who administer orphanages, AIDS hospices, and other centers of charitable activity in the United States and around the world. Later, she founded the Nirmal Hriday Home for Dying Destitutes. From this beginning sprang numerous other facilities for the sick and dying shunned by traditional institutions. This dedication to those on the margins of life is perhaps Mother Teresa's most profound legacy. It is one thing--certainly important and meaningful--to give occasionally to charitable causes or lend valuable time to charitable work. These are personal sacrifices that give us a stronger connection to our community and more meaning to our own lives. It is quite another thing--nearly incomprehensible to those of us blessed with the material comforts of our modern American life--to give up all one has and to make this sacrifice and dedication to others the sole focus of one's life. To do this among conditions of squalor and misery--at risk to one's own health and life--and to focus on those on the margins of life shunned even by hospitals and other institutions dedicated to improving human life, that is the character of Mother Teresa's life that earned her the affectionate label, ``the Saint of the Gutter.'' Mr. President, Mother Teresa was a tiny woman, but she was an enormous inspiration. The best way for us to honor Mother Teresa is to reach outside ourselves and try, each day, to show a little more compassion in our own lives. I hope this resolution serves to remind us of that goal and to signal to the world our tremendous gratitude, respect, and admiration for Mother Teresa--an extraordinary woman who has touched and enriched all our lives.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we just received word that Mother Teresa has died in Calcutta of cardiac arrest. With Mother Teresa's death, another bright light has gone out in the world. Someone once asked St. Francis what a person needed to do to please God. He answered, ``Preach the Gospel every day. If necessary--use words.'' Mother Teresa lived just that sort of life. She was a living reminder to all of us that faith is more than words. It is the good deeds we do in this world. She was a tiny woman, but she was an enormous inspiration. In the same way we can best show our respect for Princess Diana by supporting the ideals she believed in, the best way to honor Mother Teresa is to reach outside of ourselves and try to show a little more compassion in our own lives.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, it is with great reluctance that we come to this point, but I think it is important for us to remember from where it is we have come and how it is we got here. I will not elaborate in the detail at this point except to say this: This was a bipartisan investigation during the first phase. I recall to my colleagues during that phase we asked the same attorneys who were involved in the last contested election--that is, Senator Feinstein and her opponent, Mr. Huffington--to examine the circumstances of this particular race. They did. They recommended a certain course of action, and the majority on the Rules Committee chose to ignore it. They then set in motion a second phase for investigation. That investigation also was bipartisan. That investigation took the course of a couple of months and came back again on a bipartisan basis with recommendations that again were ignored by the majority. It was with increasing frustration that Democrats warned our Republican colleagues that we could not tolerate this endless abrogation of the regular order, this bipartisan effort to come to some conclusion on this investigation. With some reluctance, we continued to work and ultimately indicated that beyond the end of July we were simply not in a position to tolerate unnecessary elongation and the increasingly partisan nature of this investigation and put our colleagues on notice that it must end. We indicated that if it had not ended by the time we came back after the August recess, we would have no recourse but to add increasing pressure to the process to bring about some end. Now, this may or may not bring about an end. I am disappointed and somewhat alarmed that the chairman of the Rules Committee has now announced further hearings and further efforts to prolong this--in my view, completely unnecessarily. It would be one thing if evidence had been produced to suggest in some way some wrongdoing on the part of Senator Landrieu, but that has yet to be produced. In fact, just the opposite. If any wrongdoing, anything related to wrongdoing has been found, it has been with regard to her opponent, Mr. Jenkins. That is where the wrongdoing becomes increasingly evident as we look closer and closer at this case. So, Mr. President, I must say we will continue to insist that committees meet for no longer than 2 hours as long as this situation continues. If it takes a month, I will put my colleagues on notice that we will use this selective approach for committee meetings for however long it takes until it is resolved. We simply cannot tolerate the unnecessary and political effort to prolong this investigation further, and we have no other recourse but to take the action we have, and so for that reason I object.

Mr. DASCHLE. I do not intend to object to the unanimous-consent request propounded by the majority leader, and I apologize for it. I object to this process. I do not want to have my objection construed as an objection to the UC propounded by the majority leader.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. On behalf of Senator Kennedy, I object.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in support of the resolution expressing the Senate's condolences upon the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. I can think of no event in recent times that has moved so many people from different parts of the world and different walks of life as the untimely and tragic death of this remarkable woman. Diana was loved and respected worldwide. She meant different things to different people, but the essence of her universal appeal seems to derive from the fact that, at the height of fame and privilege, Diana never lost the simple, human touch. To many people, the greatest tragedy of Diana's death is the loss to her two young sons, William and Harry. Diana was a committed and caring mother who did a remarkable job rearing her children under great pressure and intense public scrutiny. Many of us have seen the moving footage of Diana hugging her sons unabashedly, or beaming at the end of an amusement park adventure the three of them had shared. These things may seem simple to people outside the spotlight, but they were quite daring for someone charged with molding the character of the future King of England. Diana's human touch was daring in other ways, too. She may have singlehandedly changed the way people around the world view their fellow human beings suffering from AIDS and leprosy when she simply touched their hands. With a simple, compassionate gesture, the princess showed that we can afford to reach out to the sick. Despite many bouts with personal adversity, Diana never withdrew into the comforts of her privileged background. Instead, she seemed to relish tackling new challenges, becoming a passionate humanitarian who spent countless hours ministering to the sick, the poor, and the forgotten. Many Americans, including a number of my colleagues, knew her from her charitable work with the homeless and with victims of AIDS, breast cancer, leprosy, and other human afflictions. Most recently, Princess Diana helped to shed light on the horrors of indiscriminate injury and death caused by the worldwide proliferation of antipersonnel landmines. I have joined my colleague from Vermont, Senator Leahy, in his effort to enact a ban on the use of landmines, and this campaign received an invaluable boost from the efforts of Princess Diana. I can think of no greater tribute to her legacy than for us to summon the will and courage to enact such a ban. Mr. President, when the eyes of the world turn to London this Saturday, I hope that passage of this resolution will convey the thoughts and prayers of the American people to the family of the Princess of Wales and the British people. It is the least we can do for someone who deeply touched, and forever changed, so many of our lives.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, will the Senator from Illinois yield for just a moment?

Mr. DASCHLE. I wonder, and I apologize again and thank him for yielding, I wonder if I might make a unanimous consent--or just note the absence of a quorum in order to consult with the distinguished Senator? I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I know there are Members who wish to leave. I will be very brief. Let me just commend the majority leader for his leadership in bringing us to this point. As he has indicated, we have the good fortune to have a good relationship, and we work very closely together. I think, in part, the results are very clear. That relationship has been productive. Let me also commend the chairmen of the Finance Committee and the Budget Committee, and our ranking members on both the Finance Committee and the Budget Committee, for the extraordinary job they have done. Obviously, you cannot lead if there are not those who are willing to follow. We have followed, and we have worked in good faith on both sides of the aisle. This is a great day for the Senate and a great day for America. I appreciate very much the opportunity, once more, to express our gratitude to all Senators.